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George III (1738-1820), king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760-1820), who presided over the loss of Britain's American colonies; he was also elector of Hannover (1760-1815) and then king of Hannover (1815-1820). George was born in London. He was the first of the Hannoverian house to be born and educated as an Englishman. By 1763 George regained many of the powers that strong Whig ministries had previously appropriated. The king found a firm supporter in Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, who was prime minister from 1770 to 1782. Lord North executed the royal policies that provoked the American Revolution (1775-1783). England's loss of the American colonies forced North to resign, and George placed the government in the hands of the 24-year-old William Pitt. Late in his life George succumbed to dementia, and from 1811 his son, later George IV, acted as regent. All rights reserved.

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